A Review for: Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

So as I’ve mentioned, I haven’t attempted to read a Stephen King book in a few years. Not because I didn’t want to or don’t like his writing, I just couldn’t get my head around King’s work at the time. Now, I’m actually super impressed with what I have discovered.

Blurb:

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot in the hopes that living in an old mansion, long the subject of town lore, will help him cast out his own devils and provide inspiration for his new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive, Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work and that his hometown is under siege by forces of darkness far beyond his control.

Admittingly, at the start of Salem’s Lot I found my mind wandering. It wasn’t until a couple of chapters in that I became more engaged with the story. From there it just got better.

King’s writing is definitely unique; it’s hard to describe. He writes depictions of characters in such an honest way, that it is so seemingly blunt and puts you off guard. I do appreciate the language used too as it adds to the abruption of the characters. Each character had different and strange personalities that reverberated strongly from the catalyst events in the book.

The township of Salem’s Lot was portrayed in such a suitable manner. Haunting and eerie like, it was easy to picture myself in this ghostly world along side the locals. I felt a chill in my bones just imagining myself there.

Time seemed to move quickly in Salem’s Lot, though there were references to dates in the book that brought me back to the right time and place. I don’t know if it was an intention of King to make it seem like so much time had passed, but it really did conjure that exact feeling you have when so much has been going on, you forget it’s still the same day. Kinda like when you wake up from a nap, and think it’s the next day already? That’s how I felt when I was really engrossed in the book.

The creativity and originality of the story is something I absolutely loved in Salem’s Lot. From reading the blurb before I started the book, I had a completely different expectation for the ending, but I am definitely satisfied with how the story turned out. I found myself feeling haunted at some points in the book, as the story seemed to project an idea of how it could become a reality. Even though I was somewhat frightened, those horrific elements of the book had me mesmerised and still reading til the early hours of the morning.

I will note that throughout the whole book, I had the urge to express my reactions publicly. “What the?”, “Why, why would you do that.”, “OF COURSE YOU’RE GOING TO DO THAT, CAUSE THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS IN HORROR STORIES” and “I think I’ll need to pray before bed too” are all thoughts that were going through my head that I did end up saying out loud. It’s the least to say my friends were thoroughly amused.

When I finished this book, I had such a complete and wholesome feeling. It’s been such a delight to have the chance to finally read a horror book where it actually evoked a frightened response from me.

The sense of adventure, the climatic fright and the page-turning cliff hangers were what put this book in my top reads for this year. I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

If you’re keen on being spooked, you can buy Salem’s Lot by Stephen King through the link below! – I’ve just recently become a Book Depository affiliate so I will earn a little bit of money when people purchase through my affiliate link. ☺️

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Comments

I adore Stephen King. He’s one of my favorite writers, but I haven’t read this one yet. His books can definitely be hard to get into. I haven’t read Salem’s Lot, but I might have to move it up on my TBR.